Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

SPSP Annual Meeting 2010

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schimel, J.
Right arrow Articles by Martens, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schimel, J.
Right arrow Articles by Martens, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Evidence that Projection of a Feared Trait can Serve a Defensive Function

Jeff Schimel

University of Alberta, jschimel{at}ualberta.ca

Jeff Greenberg

University of Arizona

Andy Martens

University of Arizona

Two experiments tested the notion that allowing people to project a feared trait onto another individual would facilitate denial of the trait. In Study 1, participants were given feedback that they were high or low in repressed anger and were allowed to rate an ambiguous target on anger or not. Participants who received high (vs. low) anger feedback rated the target especially high on anger. In addition, participants who received high anger feedback and who were allowed to project their anger had the lowest anger accessibility on a word completion exercise. Study 2 replicated these basic findings using a different trait dimension (dishonesty) and a direct measure of denial (self-attributions of dishonesty). Specifically, in Study 2, participants who received high dishonesty feedback and who were allowed to project dishonesty reported having an especially low level of dishonesty. Discussion focused on the relationship between classic projection and other forms of psychological defense.

Key Words: projection • defenses • threat • self-esteem • repression • accessibility

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 29, No. 8, 969-979 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167203252969
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol BullHome page
M. L. Knowles and W. L. Gardner
Benefits of Membership: The Activation and Amplification of Group Identities in Response to Social Rejection
Pers Soc Psychol Bull, September 1, 2008; 34(9): 1200 - 1213.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol BullHome page
O. Govorun, K. Fuegen, and B. K. Payne
Stereotypes Focus Defensive Projection
Pers Soc Psychol Bull, June 1, 2006; 32(6): 781 - 793.
[Abstract] [PDF]